The Lowcountry Immigration Coalition, a group pushing for immigration reform, confronted Congressman Mark Sanford, R-SC, about his opposition to a comprehensive immigration reform bill. 

The Coalition crammed nearly 500 people into the Holy Family Catholic Church to attend the town meeting, of which Sanford was the guest of honor. 

Note cards were passed around and questions were submitted to confront the representative about his opposition to comprehensive immigration reform, WSAV reports. 

Although Sanford says he supports a stronger work visa program, he said he does not support the comprehensive immigration bill passed by the Senate last June that would increase border security and create a 13-year path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. 

Eric Esquivel, who attended the meeting, asked Sanford why he does not support immigration reform. 

Sanford took a seat next to children holding flags of their countries of origin and began answering questions. However, he circumvented Esquivel's question. 

"I think that my vote cast reflected the majority of where people are coming from in the first district," Sanford replied.

One teacher pleaded with him to think of the children that would be impacted by immigration reform. 

"As a teacher in the Beaufort County School District, I have seen the impact of current immigration policy on children," Beth McCafferty wrote. "Please consider these young Americans of immigrant families, for they are out country's future teachers, firemen, police, and leaders."

McCafferty then said that she knows of a young student who was forced to withdraw from school and move back across the border when her father was deported following a traffic citation. 

"There will be a number of issues that we agree on, and I suspect as well that we do not," Sanford said. 

One woman told her story of how her husband was deported after living in the U.S. for 17 years. She told the congressman that she doesn't have enough money to buy her three children Christmas presents, and had to sell her car to pay rent. 

Sanford continued to defend his position, saying he could not support the bill passed by the Senate because of questions about its cost and enforcement. 

He said he would support a stronger work visa program, such as the program that was used until 1964 that allowed immigrants to acquire temporary work permits, The Republic reports. Sanford said that the plans for the comprehensive reform bill do not include the work visa measure. 

"Even if comprehensive reform plans are passed, there will still be large numbers of illegal immigrants in industries like construction. We're not fixing what's driving the problem if we don't address work visas," the congressman said.